LAUNDERETTE

As anticipated, the annual Lit Crawl offered hundreds of readers across the East Village and the Lower East Side the opportunity to drink, schmooze and, in one instance, square off in a contest of literary acumen with their favorite poets and novelists. “Nerd Jeopardy” was sponsored by Farrar, Straus & Giroux, but house authors Will Hermes, Paul La Farge and Alina Simone lost to a team of laymen going by the name of “Whale Blubber.” (The Daily Double question: “The first book in Stieg Larsson’s Millenium trilogy would have been a veritable house party if only Lisbeth had listened to this master sampler.” The answer: “Girl Talk with the Dragon Tattoo.”) Meanwhile on East Sixth Street and Second Avenue, the Laundrette laundromat hosted “Dirty Laundry: Loads of Prose,” a collection of stain-inspired short stories. The material wasn’t everyone’s cup of Tide: Most regulars scurried to the washing machines at the back of the store.

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Hello, Neighbors

The Local was a journalistic collaboration designed to reflect the richness of the East Village, report on its issues and concerns, give voice to its people and create a space for our neighbors to tell stories about themselves. It was operated by the students and faculty of the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University, in collaboration with The New York Times, which provides supervision to ensure that the blog remains impartial, reporting-based, thorough and rooted in Times standards. Read more »